Remember the press conference the morning after Alabama beat Texas in the BCS Championship Game? Remember all those organizations stepping up to hand Nick Saban one national championship trophy after another?

The one with the big football on top, the Grantland Rice Trophy, came from the Football Writers Association of America.

That organization, showing the kind of wisdom many of you think is beyond most sports writers, may be the only one of its kind to do the right thing regarding the 2004 national title.

The FWAA may yank it from USC's cheating hands and hand it to deserving Auburn.

"I wouldn't say we're definitely going to do that, but it's a possibility," Richardson said. "As we survey the scene, we have an opportunity to consider for the first time of vacating, in the modern era, a national championship."

And well it should after the NCAA hammered USC and vacated some of its victories with semi-pro Reggie Bush in the lineup, including the BCS Championship Game rout of Oklahoma that gave the Trojans the unanimous 2004 title.

The AP whiffed on that one, saying it won't re-vote. The BCS failed to step up to the plate, too, saying it may take away USC's title but, if it does, will leave that title vacant.

Give the FWAA credit for having the guts and brains to get it right.

Richardson said he plans to form a committee of past FWAA presidents to discuss the issue.

"I'm sensing that people, when they look at the situation, that is a distinct possibility that Auburn thing can come into play," he said. "I haven't had anyone convince me why we shouldn't do it."

The FWAA has an admirable record of independent thinking. (And no, if you're wondering, I'm not a member.) It started naming a national champion in 1954, and it was the first organization to do so after the postseason games.

That explains why Alabama has only five FWAA championships: 1965 (in a tie with Michigan State), 1978, 1979, 1992 and 2009.

Lest you think the FWAA has a bias toward Auburn, in 1957, when the AP named the Tigers the national champion, the FWAA gave the Rice Trophy to Ohio State.

Oh, and here's one more sign of the FWAA's independence that Saban won't like: In 2003, when Saban and LSU won the BCS title, the FWAA -- like the AP -- voted USC as the national champion.